Glenn Beck: "Can we stop dividing ourselves?"

The polemicist tells the NY Times he doesn't know why Americans don't all get along, but wants to kill progressives

Published September 6, 2013 2:54PM (EDT)

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In a brief Q&A with the New York Times, conservative firebrand Glenn Beck comes off as a friendly libertarian, with a dim view of the state of the news industry and predictable inconsistencies.

In a moment seemingly devoid of self-awareness, the ever-polemic Beck tells the Times:

Can we stop dividing ourselves? Do racists exist? Yes. Do bigots exist? Yes. But most of us are not. Most Americans just want to get along. Why can’t we do that? What has happened to us?

Beck highlighted that his support for legalizing gay marriage had everything to do with his libertarian outlook: "The point is that government shouldn’t be involved in marriage," he said.

But (let incoherence reign) Beck, who wants everyone to get along, would still happily "hunt down progressives like an Israeli Nazi hunter." "Oh I will," he told the Times.

Other tidbits: Beck thinks that nightly news is killing itself (not even his dead grandparents would watch it, he said); he's no longer in contact with Sarah Palin (because he doesn't really stay in touch with anybody, he explained); and he started a jeans brand because he loves jeans and even hopes progressives, whom he will hunt down, find his denims comfortable.


By Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.

MORE FROM Natasha Lennard


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Conservatives Gay Marriage Glenn Beck Libertarians New York Times Nightly News Polemics Progressives